Grain-riddle.



PATENTED JULY 30, 1907. W. H. EMERSON. GRAIN RIDDLE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1907.

T1 E. L

UNITED STATES WILLIAM EMERSON, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

GRAIN-arianna.b

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented .my 3o, 1907..

Application filed January 4, 1907. Serial N0. 350,764.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. EMERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Riddles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to grain riddles and has for its object to provide an improved riddle especially adapted for separating oats from other grain, particularly from round-berried grain.

The riddle is constructed without wood, which is subject to deterioration or warping, and it is also intended to be constructed in such manner that grain will not clog or stick therein.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top plan view of a section of the riddle. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the blanks forming the spacing and dividing plates.

Referring specifically to the drawings, 6 indicates the side piece and 7 the end piece of the frame work of the screen, which may be of any ordinary construction suitable for holding the screen body.

At S are indicated strips of metal equal in length to the space between the side bars or other lengthwise bars of the screen frame, and these strips are arranged at an inclination with respect to their width, the upper or higher edge of one strip extending above or beyond the lower' edge of the adjacent strip. Extending downwardly from each oi the strips 8 is another strip of metal 9, the upper edge l0 of which is slightly bent, lengthwise, at a small angle to the remainder of the stripfas indicated at l0. The part 10. is arranged at substantially a right angle with respect to the strip 8, the lower portion of the strip 9 extending at a more acute angle with respect to the top strips 8 than the upper portion l0, in vconsequence of the lengthwise bend referred to. The purpose of the bend is to avoid the sharp corner Where the strips join, in which grain berries might stick. l

The upper strips 8 and lower strips 9 are held together, and also spaced in proper position with respect to each other, by means of a considerable number of small division and spacing plates, indicated at l1. These plates are set edgewise between the series of strips comprised in the riddle, and the plates are shaped to preserve the angularity of the respective strips and also to bind the same together. The plates 1l stand edgewise, the upper edge l2 thereof being at an angle to fit under the upper edge of each strip 8, and the inclined edge 13 at thellower end fits upon the lower strip 9, and the lower edge 14 fits'upon the lower v in the plate. Each of the spacing plates 11 has" Few..

threetongues arrangedto extend through slits formed to receive them in the cross strips 8 and 9, and to be bent over plates to hold the parts together. One

tongue, 16, projecting from theedge l2, extends upwardly through a slot in the upper edge of the strip S; another tongue, 17, projecting from the edge 13, extends through a slot in the lower 4strip 9, and the third tongue, 18, which projects from the lower edge 14 of the plate, extends downwardly through a slot in the lower edge of the next pr adjacent strip 8.

There are a plurality of the division plates l1 located between the strips and they are spaced apart a sufficient distanceV to'allow a berry or kernel of` grain to enter therebetween, but nevertheless too close together to prevent an oat berry from swinging around crosswise;

and, as a whole, they form a large number of small angular passages through which wheat or other round berries will pass and fall through the screen, but wh ich will not pass oats because the oats which enter the passages necessarily enter endwise and will be stopped when they strike the lower angular strip 9; and when the riddle is vibrated the oats are readily jarred out of the passages and travel along the surface of the screen to the tail thereof. When the oats are in the passage formed by the strips and the plates they lie substantially parallelto'the angle or lateral inclination of the strips 8, consequently on shaking or jolting the riddle they will ride quite readily along the surface of one strip to the next, and thus gradually to the end of the screen. At the same time any short or round grain will turn the angle in the passages and fall through the screen.

The riddle has advantages of cheapness of construction, as the strips 8 and 9 are readily rolled, cut and punched, and the spacing plates 11 may 'be stamped out of sheet metal in large quantities, and the parts are assembled by fitting the tongues through the slits in the various strips and up-setting the tongues to fasten the parts together. This gives an all metal construction without the use of solder.

I am aware that hitherto riddles have been constructed having a rounded "or semi-circular passage around the lower edge or strips of plates forming the surface of the riddle. Such a riddle is shown in my U. S. Patent No. 793571. I am also aware that riddles have been constructed with V-shaped plates or passages, such riddle being shown, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 91307; and I am also aware that riddles have heretofore been constructed with Y-shaped plates, as shown, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 452065. The present invention has advantages over all of these. In the rst two constructions referred to the oats, particularly short oats, have a tendency 'to assume a vertical position between the edge over which they turn and the opposite rounded or angular `Hvcalls, and when this takes place the oat cannot be that the whiskers of the oat catch 4on the stem orI lower edge of the Y. Inasmuch as this kind of riddles Iis used principally to separate wild oats from wheat,

and inasmuch as the wild oat is whiskered at the tip or nose, a screen having the Y plates becomes clogged more or less. In ymy construction, however, the yend or nose of an oat -enteri-ng one of the passages or pockets will strike the part l0. `It -cannot stick in so w-ide an angle, nor will it pass the angle l0, and therefore its -end Will rest against the part 10. And it is to be further noticed lthat the space between the strips 8 is considerably greater than the width of the :part 10.

In practice I have found it Aadvantageous -to make the width of the part lO-that is, the distance from the plate l8 to the bend l0a referred to-two thirty-seconds oi an inch, anda distance between the plates S-that is, thedistance from the edge 12 to the edge 121- five thirty-seconds -of an inch. "The comparativelyy wide space so provided allows 'ran oat resting inthe angle l()a to be easily jolted-out or dislodged, andthe oat is, so to speak, bridged across between the angle l0a Vand the plate 8 with sufficient vroom above to be jolted out and to allow the whiskers of the oat to clear the lower or turning edge 'of the `strip 8. 0n the backward stroke 'of the riddle, when the oat 'slides into the passage it lodges on its end and strikes at or about i the angle l0 and slides or raises up on the-part lGand thus lifts clear of the lower edge of the plate 8 and, f when vthe riddle goes forward, -is thus discharged from the passage. V'This avoids the tight holding 'or clogging incident to riddles having the `V-shaped passages and also avoids the clogging incident to oatsseifrie l being caught in vertical position or partly turned around the angle. Therefore the riddle will not become clogged either by the oats assuming the vertical position, or by the whiskers of the oats catching on th lower edge of the strips.

Iclaim:

1. In la -grain riddle, the combination of a series of upper strips and lower strips 'arranged at an angle to each other andispaced apart, and a series of spacing plates located in said spaces and having tongues extending through -and fastened .to the respective strips.

2. vln a grain riddle, the combination of a series of upper spaced' strips and lower strips arranged at an angle thereto, sa'id strips having slits therein, and a series of plates Aarranged edgewise in said spaces, and having shoulders against which theA lower edge of the upper strips abats `and Valso having tongues extending through and fasY tened in the slits in each of its contacting strips.

3. In a grain riddle, the combination of a series of upper strips, lower strips joined to said upper strips lat an angle thereto and extending downwardlytherefrom, said lower strips being bent along their upper edges to form blunt corners at the angles, and division plates between said upper and lower strips, forming passages through the riddle.

4. In a grain riddle, the combination of a plurality of spaced overlapping upper strips, a plurality of lower strips attached thereto, each of the lower strips being bent lengthwise, and having an upper part joined at the edge to the under side of the upper strip at substantially a right angle thereto, and a yplurality of division plates located between said strips.

5. In a grain riddle, the combination -of upper strips spaced apart, lower strips having a lengthwise bend formA ing an upper part at an angle thereto and secured along 'the yunder side'of the upper strips at substantially a right angle thereto, the width Aof the said upper part being less than the space between the upper strips, and division plaies between said upper and lower strips.

In testimony whereof I lailix `my signature, 'in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. EMERSON.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM G. EMERSON, .Tnssrn A. GORDON. 

